System and Method of Operation For Network Overlay Geolocation System With Repeaters

In a wireless communication system having one or more repeaters and a geolocation system which determines the location of a mobile appliance by measuring an attribute of the mobile appliance's uplink signal, a method of determining if the uplink signal is received directly from the mobile appliance or via one of the one or more repeaters, the method comprising:

• determining a probability for each of two hypotheses;
• and
• choosing one of the two hypotheses having a greater probability,
• wherein the probability for each of the two hypotheses is based on a timing advance of the transmitted uplink signal, hearability of the transmitted uplink signal, and known locations and delays of the one or more repeaters.

In a network overlay geo-location system for locating a mobile appliance in a host wireless communication system where the host wireless communication system has a plurality of base stations and one or more repeater stations, a method of determining whether a signal transmitted by a mobile appliance is received at one of the base stations directly or via the one or more repeater stations, the method comprising:

• determining an approximate distance between the base station and the mobile appliance based on a timing advance of the mobile appliance's transmitted signal;
• determining an equivalent propagation distance of the one or more repeater stations;
• comparing the equivalent propagation distance with the approximate distance;
• and
• determining if the signal is received directly from the mobile appliance or through a repeater based in part on the comparison.

In a wireless communication system having at least one repeater, a method of determining if an uplink signal is received directly from a mobile appliance or via the at least one repeater, the method comprising:

• determining two or more factors selected from the group of:
• a relationship between a timing advance of the uplink signal with the equivalent propagation distance of the at least one repeater,
• propagation distance of the at least one repeater,
• receivers that have received the uplink signal,
• transmitted signals received by the mobile appliance, and
• a second relationship between the power of the received signal, the power at which the mobile appliance transmitted the uplink signal, and the timing advance;
• determining at least one figure of merit based on the two or more factors selected;
• and
• comparing the at least one figure of merit to at least one or more threshold values to determine whether the uplink signal is received directly from the mobile appliance or from the at least one repeater.